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The Cricket in Times Square · Garden Heights
Part 6
for The Cricket in Times Square · Part 6 · Chapters 11–12
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 6
Morning shows the damage: a scorched newsstand, ruined stock, and Mama Bellini’s patience burned up with it. Her verdict is one cold word — jinx. The cricket has brought nothing but bad luck, and he must go. Mario pleads; Papa hesitates; and Chester, sick with guilt, half believes she is right. Then, from his perch, the cricket does the only thing he can do: he plays. Out of his perfect memory comes the old Italian song Mama loves best — Come Back to Sorrento, learned note for note from the radio. Mama stops mid-scold. She listens. She hums. Song by song, the melody reaches the places argument never could, and by the end she has forgiven him — the ‘jinx’ may stay for good. The next day Mr. Smedley arrives for his paper and gets a private concert instead: opera arias, sung by an insect, flawlessly. The astonished music teacher declares Chester a genius — the most remarkable performer in New York — and goes home to write a rapturous letter to the music editor of the New York Times, inviting the whole city to come and hear a cricket sing. The letter is mailed; the fuse of fame is lit.
What We Will Learn
Section
What you will practice
Vocabulary
Words of blame and brilliance: jinx, despair, forgive, genius, remarkable…
Literary Elements
Motif, theme, and a character who changes her mind
Cross-Curricular
Why familiar songs unlock memories, and how a newspaper letter could summon a city
Chapter Summary
Ch.
What happens
11
The Jinx — blamed for the fire and branded bad luck, Chester wins Mama over the only way he can: by playing her beloved Italian song until forgiveness — and welcome — replace the verdict.
12
Mr. Smedley — the music teacher hears a private concert of arias, declares the cricket a genius, and mails a letter to the New York Times inviting the city to listen.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Chapters 11–12, then answer each question.
🧠Knowledge Bank · The Sound That Reaches the Heart
Brain Science · Music & EmotionWhen a song softens a hard mood, something measurable is happening. Sound enters the ear as vibration, but the brain does far more than measure it: certain rhythms and pitches wake the very regions that handle emotion and memory. A slow, sweet melody can steady a racing pulse; a bright, quick one can lift a heavy afternoon. Researchers who scan listeners find music lighting up areas that ordinary speech never touches, which helps explain why nearly every human culture on earth makes music, often long before it builds cities. A tune can also cross a language it could never speak, carrying feeling straight from one person to another. So a room stilled by one small song is not magic but the ordinary, mysterious power of a beautiful sound.
jinxn.Ch.11
A person or thing believed to bring bad luck
“Mama declared the cricket a jinx on the whole family.”
scorchedadj.Ch.11
Burned on the surface
“The scorched newsstand smelled of smoke all morning.”
despairn.Ch.11
The complete loss of hope
“Chester sank into despair at what the fire had cost.”
melodyn.Ch.11
The tune of a piece of music
“A familiar melody drifted up from the cricket cage.”
forgivev.Ch.11
To stop being angry about a wrong
“Hearing her song, Mama began to forgive the cricket.”
geniusn.Ch.12
A person with extraordinary natural talent
“Mr. Smedley declared the cricket a musical genius.”
arian.Ch.12
A song for one voice from an opera
“Chester performed a famous aria, note for note.”
declarev.Ch.12
To announce something firmly and publicly
“The teacher was ready to declare it a miracle.”
editorn.Ch.12
The person who decides what a newspaper prints
“The letter was addressed to the music editor of the Times.”
remarkableadj.Ch.12
So unusual it deserves attention
“A cricket singing opera was truly remarkable.”
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
1A person or thing believed to bring bad luck is a ___.Ch.11
2If something is ‘scorched,’ it is soaked through with water.Ch.11
3The complete loss of hope is called ___.Ch.11
4An ‘aria’ is a song for one voice from an opera.Ch.12
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.11–12
Word choices:melodyeditorjinxdeclare- some words will not be used
A familiar stopped Mama in the middle of her scolding.
The letter went to the music of the newspaper.
6To stop being angry with someone about a wrong is to ___ them.Ch.11
7A ‘genius’ is a person with no particular talent.Ch.12
8To announce something firmly and publicly is to ___ it.Ch.12
9Fill in the blanks with the correct words.Ch.11–12
Word choices:remarkableforgivegeniusscorched- some words will not be used
Smedley called the cricket a musical .
A singing insect was too to keep secret.
10The person who decides what a newspaper prints is the ___.Ch.12
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Chapters 11–12.
🧠Knowledge Bank · A Letter That Could Move a City
Media History · Newspapers & Homeland SongsIn 1960, before television ruled the evening, New Yorkers argued with their city in the letters column of its newspapers. A letter to the editor of the New York Times, the city’s paper of record, might be read over breakfast by hundreds of thousands of people, which is why a music teacher with something to prove would reach for a pen rather than a telephone. The same city carried its past in music. Millions of New Yorkers then were immigrants or their children, and Italian households treasured the melodies of Naples, among them Come Back to Sorrento, a song of longing for a beloved place left behind. Notice what Selden has arranged: a homesick cricket reaching a homesick woman with a song about missing home. Two exiles, one melody.
1What does Mama call Chester after the fire?Ch.11
2How does Chester feel about Mama’s accusation?Ch.11
3Chester plays a song that Mama has loved since her younger days.Ch.11
4What happens as Chester plays the Italian song?Ch.11
5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapters 11–12. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.11–12
Mr. Smedley hears a private concert of arias.
Chester begins the old song of Sorrento.
A letter to the Times invites the city to listen.
Mama surveys the scorched stand and pronounces the cricket a jinx.
Mama softens, hums along, and lets Chester stay.
6Mario finally convinces Mama with a long, clever argument.Ch.11
7What does Mr. Smedley hear when he stops by the newsstand?Ch.12
8What does Mr. Smedley do after hearing the concert?Ch.12
9By the end of Chapter 12, Chester’s gift is still a secret kept inside the Bellini family.Ch.12
10What deal has changed for Chester between the start and end of these chapters?Ch.11–12
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY George Selden tells the story across Chapters 11–12.
🧠Knowledge Bank · The Pest Becomes the Prize
Literary Craft · IronyThere is a satisfying twist in these chapters: the creature blamed for a disaster becomes the household’s greatest treasure. That gap between what we expect and what actually arrives is called irony. We expect trouble to bring punishment; instead the trouble leads, by a winding road, to a discovery nobody was looking for. Authors love irony because it surprises a reader first and makes him think second, showing that life rarely runs in the straight line we predicted. Notice how the very worst moment is what finally makes people stop hurrying and listen closely enough to hear what they have. Irony teaches a reader to hold judgment lightly, since an event that looks like ruin can turn out to carry a hidden seed.
Motif
An image or idea that returns again and again — music decides every major turn of this story.
Theme
The story’s underlying message — here, that music speaks straight to the heart, past every argument.
Dynamic character
A character who truly changes — Mama Bellini, from ‘get rid of the bug’ to humming his accompaniment.
1Music deciding yet another turning point — Mama’s forgiveness — marks it as the book’s ___.Ch.11
2Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.11
Word choices:themedynamicstaticplot- some words will not be used
A story’s underlying message is its .
A character who truly changes is called .
3Chester winning Mama with her favorite song — rather than with words — best supports which theme?Ch.11
4Mama Bellini is a dynamic character because her feelings about Chester truly change.Ch.11
5Selden makes MAMA the one the song must win — not Papa or Mario — because she ___.Ch.11
6The detail that Chester learned Mama’s song FROM THE RADIO ties Chapter 11 back to ___.Ch.11
7A motif is an idea or image that appears only once in a story.Ch.11–12
8Fill in the blank with the correct literary term.Ch.12
Word choices:motifmoralrhymeriddle- some words will not be used
Music, returning at every major turn of the book, is a .
9Chapter 12 shifts from a private scene (family forgiveness) to a public act (a letter to the city). This shift signals that ___.Ch.12
10Selden ends Chapter 12 with the letter mailed but not yet printed. This choice leaves the part ___.Ch.12
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.
🧠Knowledge Bank · A Song Instead of a Scolding
Social-Emotional · Beauty Over BlamePart 6 sets two forces against each other: the urge to blame and the power of beauty. After a disaster it would cost nobody anything to turn on the smallest creature present and cast him out. Instead his music does what no apology could, opening a family’s hearts and buying not merely pardon but affection. Selden is quietly proposing that what we make can weigh more than what we have wrecked, and that offering something beautiful is sometimes the truest way to mend a broken moment. This is friendship across difference at its finest — a musician who cannot speak the family’s language still reaching them through sound. When words fail and tempers rise, a gift of art can lower every fist in the room.
Think back over the chapters. A woman stands before her scorched livelihood and names the culprit: the cricket, the jinx, the bad luck she always suspected. The accused cannot argue — he has no words at all. So he reaches into a night’s worth of radio and lifts out the one song she carried across an ocean, and plays it to her, note for perfect note. The scolding stops. Somewhere behind her eyes, a girl in Italy hears the sea. And the next day, a music teacher with trembling hands writes to the greatest newspaper in America about a miracle at a subway newsstand.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “It is music — not argument — that saves Chester’s place at the newsstand.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Before the song, or After the song? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ Before the songAfter the song ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
Fire scorches the newsstand overnight→
Chester reaches into his radio-trained memory→
The melody carries Mama back to her girlhood→
Smedley hears an insect sing opera flawlessly→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Selden has Chester win Mama over with HER favorite song — not his own best composition — because , which shows that .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Reading passage · The Song That Remembers · SAT & TOEFL-style practice
🎯 You already have the skills from the sections above — this is just a fun way to meet real SAT & TOEFL-style questions. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer the questions below. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.
Why can one old song bring tears to a grown person’s eyes? Scientists who study the brain say that music and memory are stored close together, and a melody heard many times in childhood becomes linked with the moments when it was heard — a kitchen, a holiday, a mother’s voice. Years later, the first notes of that melody can stir the whole memory back to life, so vividly that the listener seems to visit the past for as long as the music plays. Brain scans show those first notes waking regions that plain speech never reaches.
This is why families who move to new countries guard their old songs so carefully. A song weighs nothing and takes up no room in a suitcase, yet it carries a whole homeland — its language, its holidays, its goodbyes. When such a listener unexpectedly hears a treasured melody far from home, the effect can be overwhelming: the years fold up, the distance disappears, and for a few minutes the faraway place is near again. Whoever plays that song is offering more than music. It is a key, and it opens the door to home.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Idea
2In the passage, linked most nearly means ___.SAT · Words in Context
3In the passage, to stir a memory means to ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary
4According to the passage, why do families who move to new countries guard their old songs?TOEFL · Factual Information
5The passage says a song in a suitcase ‘weighs nothing’ to show that ___.TOEFL · Rhetorical Purpose
6In the passage, a treasured melody is one that is ___.SAT · Words in Context
7In the final sentences, the word It in ‘It is a key’ refers to ___.TOEFL · Reference
8Which sentence best simplifies: ‘the years fold up, the distance disappears, and for a few minutes the faraway place is near again’?TOEFL · Sentence Simplification
9According to the passage, someone who plays a treasured song for a homesick listener is offering ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
10Prose Summary (TOEFL).The passage explains the special power of familiar music. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary
Part 6 · Optional
Creative Writing
A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.
About This Section
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 6 “The Song That Means Home”
Chester saves himself with a song that carries Mama back to her girlhood. Think of a piece of music that means something special to you or to someone in your family — a lullaby, a holiday song, a tune from another country or another time. In 6–10 sentences, tell what the song is, where it comes from, and what it brings back when it plays. End with the moment someone hears it unexpectedly — the way Mama does.
You can start with: “Whenever the first notes of that song begin, my grandmother stops whatever she is doing...”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 6 Complete!
You finished Chapters 11–12 of The Cricket in Times Square.
Here are your auto-graded results:
-
points out of 100
Your Writing
Your writing was checked automatically for length, spelling, grammar, and whether you included the key parts of the scene. Scroll back to Part 5 anytime to read your feedback and improve your work.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by George Selden. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows George Selden’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.
